Making Time

I really don't have the time to be writing this right now. I should be doing a number of other things.

Unfortunately, responsibilities don't take a vacation when things get tough. Neither do disciplines. Not convenient to train for a marathon in the rain? Feeling bad about your poor progress on the piano? Not feeling like suturing patients? Well, tough. It needs doing.

So, writing the blog is a discipline for me. It means doing it even when I don't want to, don't have the time for it, or it is difficult. So it is with all the practices which make up our life of faith. I'm having a hard time imagining Jesus giving himself a free pass on forgiveness for the week. Or not teaching or healing when someone is right there in front of him, in need.

I'm told that the difference between a professional and an amateur is that the amateur quits when it isn't convenient--and the professional does it in spite of the difficulties.

Perhaps, as we continue to walk alongside Jesus, we can learn in this way to be professionals, so do the things that need to be done when they need to be done--to have the discipline that turns us from occasional amateurs into full-time, professional people of faith.

Originally posted on 9/4/07.